This past Saturday night me and the ANB played again at the Old Crow Smokehouse in Huntington Beach. This is one of our regular venues where we have a lot of fun eating BBQ, drinking beer, and playing loud. It was an uneventful commute down to the beach where I pulled into the underground parking structure below Pacific City where the Old Crow is located.
As luck would have it a space was open just across the isle from the elevator. This is the closest I've ever been able to park.
I took the elevator up to the second floor, wheeled my gear over to the BBQ joint and set it up on stage. The Rams were handling the Cowboys this evening. The game would be over by the time we started. I did a solo setup dance.
Shortly after, Andre arrived to start setting up the sound. We've worked with Andre a few times. He does a good job.
I secure a table for the band to have some supper just before John shows up to do his solo setup dance.
Then Randy shows up! I wasn't expecting him but it's a pleasant surprise. Randy is setting up his gear when our supper arrives. John digs right in.
Tonight I enjoyed the build-your-own sampler plate with a sausage, pulled pork, brisket, baked beans, and slaw. This meal is totally great. It pairs well with a Patsy, brewed not too far from here.
I visit the little bass player's room to freshen up. I have to brush my teeth before I sing. I found this poster on the wall and recognized a few friends playing here on other nights, some we've worked with in the past.
While I was taking care of my business a weird thing happened. These three guys all walked into a stall together and started talking in hushed tones. I just minded my own business and left them to their own "business".
Feeling refreshed, I made my way down to my dressing room, which tonight is my trusty Astro van, to put on my gig clothes. I haven't worn this shirt in a while.
Here I am in front of this fine establishment. It's really a fun place to play despite all the inconvenience.
Flipping the camera around, here's PCH with Huntington Beach and the Pacific Ocean just on the other side.
Well, looky who's here at my gig! It's my bass-playing buddy Grant. He stopped by to catch a set on his way to see another friend's band. It's always great when friends show up.
I found out it was Tiffany's birthday. That's Tiffany to my right. She requested a song and I told her we'd sing "Happy Birthday". Grant took this picture. Turns out there were about a half dozen birthdays in the house tonight. It was a party!
Our friend Drummer Dave from the TW Band was filling in for Jason tonight. Jason had tweaked his back and was not feeling up to it tonight.
Johnny is ready to sound check. We didn't get much of one. We really didn't need much since the board remembers all the settings from the last time.
Arnie and Randy ensure they are able to make noise. Yep, they can make a lot of noise.
The place is jumping. It looks like it's going to be a good night.
Then the house lights go down, the stage lights go up. It's time to hit it!
Johnny Magic Fingers got to play his big boogie woogie number tonight. The crowd was boogie-ing.
Arnie was having fun channeling SRV. We did "The House Is Rocking" tonight and it rocked the house.
Tiffany and her friends were having a lot of fun celebrating her birthday tonight.
I'm not sure who this lady was but she wanted us to know she was having fun too.
The place was standing room only most of the night.
We got our favorite server, Anastasia, up to sing a couple. She likes sitting in with the band.
Anastasia has her posse to cheer her on.
Just look at that smile. She likes singing with us old guys. We even got hugs at the end of the night.
This was another birthday party out having fun tonight. I thanked them profusely for sharing their fun with us.
We played two long sets from 9:30 to 12:30 with one break in between, twenty minutes or so. Then it was time to act like professional roadies.
John and I make our way to the elevator to load out. I grabbed a piece of his gear so he could take everything in one load.
At this time of the evening it's usually a pretty quick commute home but there's trouble in River City.
Trouble with a capital "T", that rhymes with "C", and that stands for "CRASH!" I was delayed a half hour due to what looked like an awful rear end collision. Let's be careful out there. Don't drink and drive. Speed safely.
I made it home safely, just a half hour later than normal. But I was still able to make it to church on time the next morning. I hope there were no serious injuries in this accident.
I've got no gigs until next Saturday when we play Buckle and Boots in Lancaster. That's almost a two hour drive. Plus I'm playing in church the next morning. I'll need lots of prayer and caffeine. Thanks for looking at my gigs. And thanks for sharing yours. Fun stuff!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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